Improvement in hoop-skirts



UNITED STATES PATEN'I" 'O1-"Froua TIMOTHY S. SPERRY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO CHARLES C. CARPEN- TER, OF NEW YORK CITY.

IMPROVEMENT IN` HOOP-SKIRTS.

i Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 116,507, dated June 27, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, TIMOTHY S. SPERRY, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illi- 'nois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Skeleton Hoop-Skirts; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof:

The accompanying' drawing represents my improved skeleton hoop-skirt in different positions, in which A is the upper nest of hoops, which constitutes the bustle, (they are separate and independent springs,) and B the lower nest or set of springs, formed, however, of a single spring. These separate nests of springs are united to each other by the usual tapes C. The lower nest of springsy B is a continuation of the spiral spring or hoop D, being' one and the samesprin g, coiled sufficiently close together to form the lower nest of hoops, and, leaving said nest, passing upward and spirally over the intervening space so as to terminate with the front ends at e of the bustlesprings A, while the counter spiral spring-hoop E starts from a point opposite to e, and, passing` spirally over the intervening space, crosses the single continuous spring-hoop in front at m, and,

`passing around half the circumference of the skirt, forms, with the continuous spring, elevated guards a and b for each knee, as shown in the view of the skirt detached from the ligure ofthe wearer, and is fastened at g to said continuous spring. The spiral hoops D and E cross each other at two points, viz., at f, to forma support for the bustle, and at m, to form the guards for the knees. These guards are of great advantage in a skeleton skirt having an intervening space, because without them the knees would project beyond, the `lower nest of hoops whenever the wearer should occupy a sitting position.

The formation of the lower nest of hoops B by the same spring which forms the spiral crossinghoop D possesses, among other advantages, greater durability, both to the horizontal and upwardly-spiraled hoops B and D, than could be obtained by having them distinct and separate from each other; economy in cost, and time in the manufacture of the article, and materially strengthenin g the spiral hoop D by the united strength of the several folds which constitute the nest B, so that the spiral hoop D extends from the bottom spring to the top set A without having its continuity or elasticity interrupted or broken. By crossing the spring-hoops D and E from opposite points of attachment I am enabled `to arrange' them so as to entirely encircle the body, and thus avoid any straight unyielding point of attachment.

I am aware that one or more bracing-hoops, which extend from a point at or near the top of the skirt at the back to a point at or about the height of the knees of the wearer in front, have been patented .by Charles E. Pratt July, 1870, and I therefore do not claim such bracing-hoops as my invention.

Having described my invention, I claim- In a hoop-skirt, in which the lower nest B is formed of a continuous wire, which also unites it with the bustle-nest, the combination therewith of the knee-guards or fenders. a and b, crossing the front space above the lower hoops, as described.

TIMOTHY S. SPERBY.

Witnesses:

E. A. ELLswoR'rH, A. H. PARKS. 

